Sokolovic and Darren Pettie in Detroit.   (Photo: Jeremy Daniel)

Now that she’s gaining professional traction, Sokolovic has plenty of dream roles (“I’m 32, I think Juliet is slowly slipping away; I think that ship may have sailed”), but life has taught her not to get overattached to any big plan. As for her love life, she says she’s currently “dating a play called Detroit.” Which is an affair unto itself. “Sometimes I still look over and say, ‘That’s Amy fuckin’ Ryan,’ ” she says. She’s about to elaborate when we’re accosted by an apparently homeless gentleman bellowing the admonishment “Stop looking for a husband!”

“Well,” answers Sokolovic, ever willing to engage. “I gave up five years ago.” But the relationship counselor has already lurched off, and Sokolovic has barely slowed down. “A long time ago, I stopped making plans about where I was gonna end up. I just kinda know when it’s the right thing. I will say I have often fantasized about moving to Montana. Which is ironic, because I was there, and that’s where I decided to come to New York. Who knows?” She says she’s a bundle of nerves—which will come as a surprise to anyone who’s seen her onstage, where she appears eerily self-possessed. It’s okay, she says. The nerves, the uncertainty, they sustain her. “I hope it doesn’t go away,” she says merrily, putting one broken boot in front of the other. “I hope it never goes away!”

Related:

• Archive: “Theater Features”
• Articles by Scott Brown
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